GEB 1305

China and the World

Lecture 6 (Part 1)

Mainland China and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan:

Impacts of Mainland China’s Policies towards Taiwan

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Taiwan - After the Second World War

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Major Background Information
• The Republic of China (Taiwan) is situated in the West Pacific between Japan and the Philippines. Its
jurisdiction extends to Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, as well as numerous other islets; a population of 23
million.

• It is commonly believed that European sailors passing Taiwan record the island’s name as Ilha Formosa,
or beautiful island in the 17th century.

• 1624 - The Dutch established a base in southwestern Taiwan; to employ Chinese to work on its rice and
sugar plantations.

• 1626 - Spanish adventurers established bases in northern Taiwan, but are ousted by the Dutch in 1642.

• 1662 - Ming loyalists under Zheng Cheng-gong drew the Dutch away and established authority over the

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island. https://www.taiwan.gov.tw (official website)
Major Background Information
• 1885 - Taiwan was declared a province of the Qing Empire.

• 1895 – Qing government was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, thus it
ceded Taiwan to Japan, which ruled the island until 1945.

Old copper refinery is also called “the Potala

Oxford College (Tamsui) Palace of Mountain Mines” 4
Major Background Information

• 1912 - Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the Qing Empire and established

the Republic of China (ROC).

• 1947 - The ROC Constitution was promulgated in 1947.

• 1949 - ROC relocated the government to Taiwan, followed by 2 million

people from China. Martial law was declared in Taiwan and continued to be

in force until 1987.

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Chiang’s Military Counterattack Plan
• After WWII, the Republic of China (ROC) was one of the charter members of the United

Nations and one of five permanent members of its Security Council until 1971 when the

People’s Republic of China (PRC) replaced ROC.

• Near the end of the Korean War in 1953, Chiang Kai-Shek made himself clear to the

Americans that he would completely destroy the Communist regime in mainland so as to

secure a free world.

• In 1954, ROC and the U.S. signed the mutual security treaty.
(Lin,
6 2016)
Chiang’s Military Counterattack Plan

• With the commitment of the U.S., the ROC was made more secure against the

Communist.

• Yet, Taiwan’s military capability was only defensive in nature and constrained by its

American ally.

• Chiang Kai-shek and his government insisted their military counterattack plan.

• In 1958, PLA in Fujian bombarded Kinman.

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Chiang’s Military Counterattack Plan

• In the 1960s, Chiang Kai-shek finally gave up his “counterattack” plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uweu1wlKTUE (Formosa TV, 2013, June 17) (10:35 – 12:55)

• Chiang emphasized it was necessary to cultivate Taiwan’s cultural, social, economic,

and educational assets. Instead of military force. Taiwan would use this “soft power”

to overthrow the Communist regime on the mainland.

(Lin, 2016)
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Martial Law 1949 - 1987
• To suppress Communist and Taiwan Independent activities

• Prevent unlawful assembly, association, procession, petition and strike

• Regulate newspaper, magazines and book publication

• Politically correct nationalist songs in the 1960s

• Democratic Progressive Party was established in 1986

• Martial Law was lifted in 1987

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References
• Chang, S.S.Y. (2004). Literary culture in Taiwan: Martial law to market law. New York: Columbia
University Press.

• Jian, M.J. (2004). Shenmei xiandai xing de zhuanxiang: Jian lun bashi niandai taiwan liuxing yinyue de
xiandai xing yuyan (The change of aesthetic modernity: Taiwan pop music in the 1980s). 2003
Annual Meeting of the Cultural Research Society, Taipei. Retrieved from
http://www.scu.edu.tw/society/acade_act/cultural%20studies/papers/mlJian.pdf

• Lin, H.T. (2016). Accidental state: Chiang Kai-shek, The United States, and the making of Taiwan.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard University Press.

• Tsai, P.L. (1999). Explaining Taiwan’s Economic Miracle: Are the Revisionists Right? Agenda, 6(1), pp.
69-82. Retrieved from http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p94971/pdf/article07.pdf
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